The last few trading days haven't been that impressive for the bulls, but they clearly won the last couple of battles off the recent S & P 500 low of 1,980 as well as the war if we are looking at the 666 low on March 9, 2009. These last couple of months have been what is called in the business as "the grind," where the market is trying to figure out where it wants to go next. The grind has shown an upward bias as of late with help from a better tone concerning Greece and Ukraine as well as an oil rebound off its lows and the continuation of low unemployment levels. Source: FactSet Important levels in the S & P 500 cash to determine whether this bull is still for real or not are 2,093 and 2,120. The former was the February high and the latter is an overshoot level based on the 2,093 high and the recent 1,980 low. Shorts must wait for a break below 2,093 to get short and bulls should wait for a break above 2,120 to get long or longer. The Federal Reserve is walking a fine line as usual and the two sectors that are feeling the heat the most from a possible rate hike are emerging markets and utilities . But with that rate increase at least four months out, I think both are buys on a pullback. (I still own Southern Co . in the utility space personally.) Read More Apple value to hit $1 trillion in 1 year: Analyst Single stock stories in focus are whether Apple will continue its March to $200 and I believe it will. It's ripe with the Apple Watch release ahead and the iPhone upgrade cycle continuing in what seems like perpetuity. Apple these days, along with a handful of other names, is responsible for all the market's gains. So look for the "chicken or the egg" situation this week if either the market or Apple breaks out or down. Steven Grasso is director of institutional sales at Stuart Frankel. Follow him on Twitter @grassosteve . D isclosure : Positions in Southern Co. and Apple.
